The 2012 Buccaneers Season: What went wrong?

by Dub

After a heartbreaking but predictable thrashing loss to the Saints, we as Buccaneers fans are forced to start looking to next year for hope. Our team heated up early in the season, only to slide right back into mediocrity leaving us feeling sad and lost. As with every team, the off season is used to try and improve your team as much as possible through free agency, the NFL Draft, and current roster development/management.

It’s easy to look at our losses this season and see some of the things that plagued the Buccaneers, and turned what could have been a magical season into one focused on “just not losing”. Here is a short (and not all-inclusive) list of the bumps the Bucs hit throughout our season.

• Losing Da’quan Bowers to an Achilles Injury in May and placing Adrian Clayborn on the injured reserve in September.
• Losing both Davin Joseph and Carl Nicks (our Pro Bowl interior offensive linemen) to season-ending injuries.
• Trading the ever troubled Aqib Talib to the Patriots.
• Eric Wright getting suspended for violating the League’s Substance Abuse Policy.
• Losing Jeremy Trueblood and Quincy Black to injured reserve.

Such a beautiful sight, isn't it?

If you’re familiar with the Buccaneers’ roster and some of its impact players, you understand the gravity of the list above. Our very talented young team was decimated by injuries, and players who were specifically brought in to produce and contribute right away were sidelined, unable to prove their worth. Our first two picks in the 2011 NFL Draft were spent on the first two players listed: Bowers and Clayborn. A large contributing factor to our struggles this season have been a lack of consistent pass rush. Michael Bennett and Gerald McCoy have done their part in trying to get to the quarterback regularly but have been consistently drawing double teams. With the probable loss of Michael Bennett in Free Agency, it’s imperative the Buccaneers reexamine our defensive line and try to make a play at an experienced veteran.

Think of Dougie with 2 Pro bowlers
grading the road for him.

Our second huge hit was losing both Nicks and Joseph. These two formed arguably the NFL’s premier interior offensive line, and made the mouths of powerbacks everywhere water. Losing Joseph was deemed catastrophic in its own right, and with Nicks going down only weeks later, the offensive line woes didn’t improve. Following the loss of our guards, Jeremy Trueblood goes down for the season, so our hundred million dollar offensive line only has 2 of the starters from the beginning of the season playing. This can be remedied in the coming season by working to make sure our linemen are well conditioned and rehabbed from their injuries in 2012 and that our backups are well equipped to step in on day 1 and contribute.

Hey Eric, ask GMC about arm tackles.
I've heard they're super effective.

Our biggest hindrance throughout all of the 2012 season is one that we thought was being fixed. When the season was on the horizon, we just spent the 7th overall pick on Mark Barron, All American safety at Alabama. We moved cornerback Ronde Barber to safety to let him utilize his ever changing skillset, and we signed nickel corner Eric Wright to step up and play opposite Aqib Talib to form what could be one of the more formidable cornerback tandems in the NFL. Things were looking optimistic. Well as we all know, things don't always work out the way we want them to, and emergency action must be taken sometimes to make up for miscalculations during the offseason. One huge misstep was thinking that Aqib had cleaned up his act. After allowing opposing quarterbacks to shred him for yardage, and being caught for using adderall, the Bucs dumped Talib for not being one of Schiano's "Buccaneer Men." Then we lost Eric Wright, our very expensive free agent cornerback to the same allegations. Myron Lewis, La'quan Lewis, EJ Biggers, Leonard Johnson, and Anthony Gaitor have tried to fill in, but have so far been unable to stop a nosebleed. The amount of effort our secondary has sucked up is astounding, and for the past two seasons has been embarassing in comparison to our rock-steady run defense. Hopefully we can fill these needs through player development and off season acquisitions.

Hopefully some of these points have helped to clearly outline some of the biggest reasons the Buccaneers have played poorly to this point. While not at all detailing the coaching choices and possible morale-related issues, we wanted to make sure the personnel problems we encountered this season were brought to light so that other fans could have something to watch for the next two games and make their own judgement calls. We'd love to hear your feedback on the Bucs progress, and look forward to seeing how these holes are patched. After all, when you're at the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up.